The Blue Carbon Protection System in the Marine Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China

Abstract

Blue carbon is an important driver to achieve the "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality" goals in China and promote the development of the national carbon market. The revision of the Marine Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China responded to China's current practical needs for a certain extent. Although it still did not explicitly mention the concept of blue carbon, it had indirectly considered the protection of blue carbon through blue carbon ecosystems in terms of marine resources and marine environment. The rules regarding the marine resources were general and principled, and the rules regarding the marine environment were more comprehensive. It confirmed the priority of restoration and improvement of blue carbon ecosystems in terms of both objects and means, and the priority of means was not yet complete. As for the future development of the Marine Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, improvements should be made in four aspects including clarifying the legal attributes of blue carbon, promoting institutional design that is conducive to the implementation of blue carbon sink technology, appropriately exerting active justice, and ensuring the blue carbon market rules, and ultimately build a more complete blue carbon protection system.

Keywords

• marine environmental protection law
• blue carbon
• carbon neutrality
• carbon trading